A teenage boy, Charlie, moves away from home to become a writer but soon finds himself tortured with conflict over whether to return to a "normal" life with his friends or continue all alone. As the tear between emotional and intellectual fulfillment intertwines with the slowly dawning realization that he's growing up, Charlie reveals portions of previous writings: most notably a piece on the fictitious author, C.N. Williams. After introducing us to Williams's wonderland Charlie's own reality begins to blur. The line between inspiration and imagination is lost, and we watch as our hero and his main character struggle to find balance--Both taunted by genius and constantly at odds with time. "It was something breathtaking--the strange feeling that for half a second one had experienced, with all his senses, the comprehension of infinity. And then it was over. It had all taken place in a measure of time too small to imagine..."